Wired’s Favorite Sci-Fi Flicks of All Time — Pre–Star Wars

Sept. 1 is the 107th anniversary of the premiere of what’s probably the world’s first science fiction film, A Trip to the Moon.

(Yes, we know 107 is not a round number. It’s a prime number, which for these purposes, is even better. So, be silent, earthling!)

To mark the occasion, we asked the staffs of Wired.com and its companion magazine, Wired, to tell us their favorite science fiction flicks. We’re not claiming these are the best, or the greatest, or anything else but our favorites.

Here they are, in chronological order, more or less — there’s an outlier at the end of today’s installment, Today we cover anything that’s pre–Star Wars. Tomorrow we’ll show you our faves from Star Wars (1977) up to 2009.

The Thing From Another World (1951)

Don’t kid yourself. This is a Howard Hawks movie. He took charge of the script, and he directed — but let Christian Nyby take the credit so he could get into the Directors Guild (according to legend). A tightly written (Charles Lederer, based on the short story “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr.), neatly acted and professionally directed movie. No frills. No gore. Just humans fighting for their lives. —John Scott Lewinski

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)

Them! (1954)

I’m going to go for this great sci-fi horror story of the giant ants that came out of the White Sands of Nevada after being created by the hubris of man’s atomic bomb testing. The ants eventually take on L.A. (Go, Giants?) But the movie’s lesson wasn’t learned, so Stanley Kubrick eventually had to direct Dr. Strangelove, a fantastic movie that unfortunately is not science fiction despite the centrality of the so-called Doomsday Machine to the plot. —Ryan Singel

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958)

A Trip to the Moon may be the oldest sci-fi flick, but this wonderful Czechoslovakian movielooks like it was made even earlier. A mixture of stop-motion and Terry Gilliam–style cut-out animation perfectly recreates the look of the fantastical engravings that appeared in Jules Verne’s seminal science fiction novels. It’s easy to imagine that this is what Verne’s 19th century contemporaries saw in their mind’s eye when they read his books. —Chris Baker

The Creation of the Humanoids (1962)

I first saw this low-budget gem on late-night TV more than three decades ago. It’s an awkward production, but the post-apocalyptic imagery of humans oppressing robots even as the machines become indistinguishable from their creators lodged itself in my brain. The film is an obvious precursor to Blade Runner and in some ways much closer to Philip K. Dick’s original story. —Ted Greenwald

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

The character names are fantastic; President Merkin Muffley, Major T. J. “King” Kong, General Jack D. Ripper, General “Buck” Turgidson and Colonel “Bat” Guano. Not to mention the great writing: “Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face” and “Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here! This is the war room!” And Stanley Kubrick’s visual styling is awesome! — Jon Snyder

If only for Miss Foreign Affairs. But Dr. Strangelove probably qualifies more as political farce than science fiction. —Tony Long

I love Strangelove, too, but I can’t classify it as sci-fi. — Marty Cortinas

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Solaris (1972)

The USSR’s answer to 2001 in the space-flick race. Like Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, Andrei Tarkovsky’s meditation on the loneliness and paranoia of deep-space exploration is more psyche-fi than sci-fi, but its stimulating plot, bizarre production and odd humor make it a winner. Skip the Soderberg remake. —Michael Calore

Zardoz (1974)

A Boy and His Dog (1975)

(Not just because I now own a dog.) One of the most chilling visions of the future ever. Extra marks for being a rare example of a Don Johnson movie that doesn’t suck. His portrayal of a desperate, emotionally vacant apocalypse survivor is surprisingly convincing. —Evan Hansen

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